Plankton play a fundamental role in the cycling of energy and materials in the oceans. Plant plankton (phytoplankton) are the base of the pelagic food webs and produce approximately one half of global oxygen. One mission of the Verity lab is to learn why these organisms and materials occur where and when they do, with the eventual goal of understanding and predicting their occurrence in time and space.

Three fates potentially consume primary production occurring on ocean margins: portions can be oxidized within the water column, portions can sediment to shelf/slope depots, and portions can be exported to the interior ocean. Zooplankton mediate all three of these processes and thus can alter the pathway and residence time of particulate organic carbon. Dr. P. Verity determines the role of microzooplankton in these processes, using two basic components: measuring their growth and ingestion, and coupling those to biomass to estimate community-level impacts.

Predation by ciliates is easily documented in the lab as prey disappearance, but it is more difficult in the field due to the presence of multiple predators and prey, and the lack of proper experimental controls. Dr. Verity studied grazing/predation pressure by analyzing samples using imaging systems that he developed.

Biocomplexity of our ecosystems has been a major topic of research at the Institute. Dr. Peter Verity and Dr. Marc Frischer of SkIO, Dr. Mark Hay of Georgia Tech, and Dr. Bernard Patten of the University of Georgia, were awarded a $2.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the biofeedback basis of self-organization in oceanic ecosystems. The grant was entitled "Biocomplexity: Biofeedback Basis of Self Organization in Planktonic Ecosystems Using Phaeocystis as a Model Complex Adaptive System." A central question of this study was how do physical (light, temperature, particle distributions, hydrodynamics), chemical (nutrient resources), biological (grazers, viruses, bacteria, other phytoplankton), and self-organizational (stability, indirect effects, distributed control) mechanisms interact with life-cycle transformations of Phaeocystis to mediate ecosystemic patterns of trophic structure, biodiversity, and Phaeocystis occurs when and where it does, and the bio-feedbacks between the smaller single species Complex Adaptive System (CAS) (Phaeocystis) and the larger multi-trophic level CAS (ecosystem).

This Biocomplexity research led to a new project funded through the NSF entitled "EST" Sequencing and Comparative Genomics of the Globally Significant Marine Phytoplankton Phaeocystis globosa". This research will provide original molecular insights into specific genes and pathways that are important for controlling and prompting stress response mechanisms in Phaeocystis. This should lead to useful molecular markers that will enable various experimental approaches designed to unravel the marvelous complexity of Phaeocystis life history phenomena.

Bacterial and fungal assemblages reflect and influence nutrient cycling in mangrove forest ecosystems. Dr. Marc Frischer studied the bacterial and fungal abundance, diversity, and response to nutrient enrichment in mangrove sediment and leaf litter in Belize.